If An Event Goes Unreported, Did It Ever Really Happen?

Dent McSkimming was a beat reporter for the St. Louis Star while still in high school.  He served in World War 1, came home and wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, studied for one year at Stanford, spent some time in Mexico City writing for an English-language newspaper, and in World War 2 served in Puerto Rico and Panama, before returning to the Post-Dispatch.  Along the way, he gained a rare appreciation for an obscure sport the rest of the world called football.

In 1950, McSkimming paid his own way to Brazil, to watch the US team take on England in the World Cup.  Everybody knew what would happen.  The English were perhaps the best team in the world, with a post-war record of 23-4-2, and were given 3-1 odds to win the Cup.  The Americans were a rag-tag group of semi-professionals, had lost their last 7 matches by a combined score of 45-2, and were given 500-1 odds.

And so it went.  The English almost scored in the first 90 seconds, and had six shots in the first 12 minutes, including two that hit the crossbar.  In the 37th minute, a weak American shot from 25 yards out was redirected by a miraculous diving header and ended up in the back of the English net.  In the second half, the English onslaught continued.  They were awarded a direct penalty kick which was saved by the American keeper.  A second spot kick could have been awarded with eight minutes left, but it was ruled outside the box, and the resulting kick was saved just wide.  Outplayed, outshot and completely out of their minds, the Americans survived 1-0.

Pandemonium ensued.  McSkimming pushed through the crowd and found a phone.  Called his editor.  He had to be the first reporter to get the news of this miracle into print.  He needn’t have worried. The next morning, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was not just the FIRST paper to break the news, it turned out to be the ONLY U.S. paper to do so.  No other paper had sent any reporters to cover what turned out to be one of the greatest American athletic achievements of the 20th century.

For his report, McSkimming was elected in 1951 to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.  He died in 1976, never witnessing another American victory over England.  The Americans have been routinely routed by the English, have beaten England only once since 1950, and the two teams have not met again in the World Cup.

Until this past Saturday in South Africa, when England and the US squared off 60 years after “the Miracle on Grass.”  And oh have times changed.  FIFA reports that, apart from the host country, no other country has bought more tickets to the tournament than the US.  The US Ambassador reported that over 40,000 Americans attended the match.

No win this time, but no loss either . . . and if we have to “kiss our sister” maybe it makes sense that’s she’s English.

By Mike Keeler
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